The “world” is coming to Bridgeport. Not in a literal sense, but plans for the new Dan Cava Used Car World are moving ahead and they’re moving ahead quickly.

 

Come July, Cava plans on converting the vacant lot that once housed the Johnson Center Plaza on the corner of Lodgeville Road and Johnson Avenue into a sizable used car facility. By the time everything is done, Cava said he will likely have made a multi-million dollar investment on the lot that became open following a fire in … that leveled the old plaza.

 

“With property costs and everything figured in, you’re looking at about $3 million,” Cava said. “Anyone worried about how it is going to appear should know that there won’t be another used car building in the state that looks like this. We’re going to do the property right.”

 

Part of that equation is that Cava is deeply invested in the car business. He currently owns the highly successful Dan Cava Toyota World in Marion County just off of Interstate 79. Part of it is that he’ll be investing in his hometown and he’ll be investing not too far from where he calls home.

 

“I’m going to be able to roll out of bed and be work. It’s about a block from my house,” Cava laughed. “I’m really happy, though, to be able to do something like this in Bridgeport. This will be done correctly. It will look professional and it won’t look out of place.”

 

Cava said Omni Associates of Marion County are the architects that are designing the building. Bridgeport resident and Omni Architect Richard “Dick” Forren will design the building.

 

The building will cover 9,000 square feet. It will be a one-story structure with a very high interior ceiling. The structure will be engineered steel and block.

 

“We should get this done pretty quickly,” said Cava. “You will see a lot of activity beginning in the next week or so.”

 

Cava previously had a used car lot near his existing facility near the Middletown Mall exit of I-79. He said he has since closed that location since his lease was coming up and he will have the majority of his used car inventory in Bridgeport once this location is ready.

 

The new facility will employ as many as 15 people. Although it will not have service bays, the building is being designed with the potential to add that function.

 

“We’ll be selling this summer and the first step to get us there is with the grading that’s about to start,” said Cava. “We hope to tear out the existing wall (along Johnson) and put up a really nice wall and spend additional money to have proper LED lighting on the lot to go along with a lot of green space.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is of an architectural rendering of what the future Dan Cava Used Car World will look like in Bridgeport.